LavaWave: "If You Respond Immediately to Bodycam Phishing, You Can Prevent Video Distribution"

As COVID-19 Severity Increases, 'Digital Sexual Crimes' Rise... Professional Firms Needed to Block Distribution

As COVID-19 spreads nationwide again, a resurgence is being observed. Despite social distancing being raised to level 2 and maintaining a certain distance from each other, concerns about ‘digital sex crimes’ still persist. In fact, related crimes steadily increased worldwide even during the early stages of the initial COVID-19 outbreak.

According to big data analysis released by a newspaper, the more severe the COVID-19 situation became, the more searches for ‘body cam’ information increased. Search records for ‘body cam’ on online communities, blogs, cafes, YouTube, and personal social networking services (SNS) were 2,410 in January 2020, 2,162 in February, 5,144 in March, 6,721 in April, and 8,993 in May. From March 1 to May 31, 2020, the first wave of COVID-19, searches related to body cam increased sharply by 2 to 4 times compared to before.

Kim Taewon, head of strategic planning at LavaWave, a company specializing in digital sex crime response, emphasized, “The increase in digital sex crimes is as serious as the resurgence of COVID-19. Among digital sex crimes, body cam phishing involves securing parts of the victim’s body through video chatting, leading to extortion or demands for illegal production of sexually exploitative videos, so the damage can be severe.”

He added, “To prevent body cam phishing, files sent by the other party during video calls are APK files that hack smartphone information, so unknown apps should not be installed, and files from unknown sources should never be executed.”

In fact, according to the 2019 Cyber Threat Analysis Report released by the National Police Agency, body cam phishing crimes steadily increased over the past five years: 102 cases in 2015, 1,193 in 2016, 1,234 in 2017, 1,406 in 2018, and 1,824 in 2019.

However, industry insiders explain that there are far more victims who have not reported. According to a recent survey by LavaWave, the information of victims accumulated on C&C servers (Command & Control servers) used by blackmailers exceeds 500 people per day, which translates to about 200,000 victims annually.

Because of the nature of body cam phishing crimes, victims find it difficult to inform those around them and tend to hesitate to report to the police. However, even if personal information is exposed, monetary demands should never be accepted. Once money is paid, repeated transfer requests may follow, and if money cannot be sent, videos may be distributed. Also, worrying alone can lead to emotional isolation, so victims should immediately ask those around them not to watch the videos.

If blackmail begins, it is necessary to secure as much evidence as possible, such as the blackmailer’s text messages and phone numbers, recorded call contents, and account information, and then report to the police. Especially since threats to distribute videos and monetary demands may continue during the investigation, seeking help from specialized companies that can block video distribution along with police reporting can be a solution.

Kim Taewon of LavaWave said, “As IT technology advances, body cam phishing methods are also evolving, so victims should not worry alone and report immediately to minimize damage.”

Meanwhile, LavaWave not only provides distribution blocking services by utilizing big data and identifying victim types but also prevents recorded videos from being distributed to contacts or online sites in advance through its self-developed precision analysis system and variable response solutions. Additionally, a counseling team composed of IT security experts and counseling specialists operates 24/7 to respond to emergencies.

Over the past five years, LavaWave has helped 875 body cam phishing victims in 2015, 1,570 in 2016, 2,345 in 2017, 3,764 in 2018, and 3,977 in 2019 through its services, which is more than twice the number of cases actually reported to the police.